Pittsburgh ? Oliver Perez gave the Pittsburgh Pirates just the kind of promising start the Colorado Rockies keep waiting for Jason Jennings to make.

Humberto Cota drove in four runs to support only the second effective start by Perez all season, and the Pirates roughed up Jennings for all of their runs in an 8-3 victory Saturday night.

Cota had a three-run double in a five-run second inning against Jennings (1-6), a former first-round draft pick whose mostly miserable season got even worse. Jennings has allowed 29 earned runs in his last five starts and has won only once in 17 starts, dating to last Aug. 22.

The big inning followed the usually low-scoring Pirates’ six-run seventh inning in their 9-4 victory Friday. The Pirates came into Saturday’s game with 150 runs, the fewest in the majors, and had scored only 14 runs in five games heading into this series.

Perez’s season hasn’t been much better than Jennings’ year, until now, as he gave up at least five earned runs in six of his first eight starts. But a two-week layoff to refine his mechanics and ease the discomfort in his sore left shoulder seemed to have made a big difference in Perez, one of the majors’ top young starters last season with a 2.98 earned-run average and 239 strikeouts.

“I was just as anxious as anyone to see what we would get,” manager Lloyd McClendon said. “Obviously, he was a little rusty, but overall we’re pleased. What I liked was his slider was biting the way it did last year … and he finished guys off.”

Perez (2-4) fought streaks of wildness – he needed 57 pitches in the first three innings, despite not allowing a hit – but also looked dominating at times with eight strikeouts in five innings.

Fittingly enough, the Pirates had previously scheduled a Perez bobblehead doll giveaway, and the left-hander was glad the sellout crowd of 37,504 went away with more than just a prize to remember him by.

“It was a special day,” he said.